Brazil (1985)

Brazil (1985)

Starring: Johnathan Pryce, Kim Greist, Robert De Niro.

Directed By: Terry Gilliam

Plot: In a dystopian city in an indeterminate era, bureaucracy rules supreme, and people live in blissful ignorance of the injustices around them.  Sam Lowry, a low-level government employee, is unhappy with this world, and dreams about saving a damsel in distress.  When he goes to the house of a widow who's husband was the victim of as mistake in the system, he realizes that her neighbor, Jill, looks exactly like the woman in his dreams.  Unbeknownst to her, she is suspected of being associated with the alleged terrorist, Archibald Tuttle, freelance heating engineer.  Seeing Jill as his ticket to a better life, Sam will desperately try to save her and escape the horrible world of injustice, violence, and paperwork.

Sam's Dream

Characters: On the surface, the characters don't look that interesting.  They made up of mostly stereotypes and caricatures, with only a few that stand out as unique.  However, the simplicity in the characterization helps the satire shine through.  Making the characters cliched works in this context, because then the audience can focus more on the themes and messages shining through.

Sam's job

Johnathan Pryce is great as Sam Lowry.  His character goes through the biggest arc of all the characters, and Pryce's acting really makes it convincing.  At the start of the film, he's subdued, bored, and wimpy.  As the plot moves forward, he starts to become more brave, energized, and adventurous.  However, this leads him to become more paranoid, reckless, and naive, which leads him on a downward spiral that is very hard to predict.  He reminds me a lot of the protagonists in classic literature, such as Winston Smith in 1984, in that they both begin to question their governments in similar ways.  

"Sorry, I'm a bit of a stickler for paperwork."

Kim Greist does a good job as Jill Layton.  She's spunky, tough, and doesn't take anyone's crap, which all fit the character.  For most of her scenes, she has a very charismatic presence, and she's very fun to watch.  However, she doesn't have a lot of scenes, and only really plays a big part in the last third of the film.  This is detrimental to the film, since the audience hasn't spent a lot of time with her, which makes them care less about her.  As a result of her limited screen time, her romance with Sam feels very forced and contrived, since they spend so little time together.

"You touched me, nobody touches me."

Robert De Niro has a relatively small role as Archibald Tuttle, but he makes a big impression.  He's funny, he's charming, and he seems to genuinely enjoy helping people with their heating.  He's definitely the most unique character in the film, treating freelance engineering as if it's on the same level as vigilantism.  This just further emphasizes the craziness of the world within the film.  Like Jill, he also doesn't have a lot of screen time, but this isn't as much of an issue, since he has less of an impact on the plot than she does,

"Listen, kid, we're all in this together."

Writing: As I alluded to earlier, this film has a lot of parallels with other dystopian stories, especially 1984.  They share similar themes, characters, and events.  For example, both of the protagonists are low level government employees that have affairs with younger women in a society where that is looked down upon.  Another similarity is that in both worlds, the main city is plagued by explosions caused by a vague enemy, and unjust arrests are constantly made.  

Brazil

1984

However, instead of coming off like it's plagiarizing the older story, it adds it's own spin on things that makes it feel more unique.  The main way it does this is through its tone.  While 1984 is depressing and disheartening, Brazil has a dark sense of humor that satirizes the culture at the time.  Not only does this lighten the mood, it also makes the atrocities seem more pronounced when contrasted against the more humorous moments.  Not only that, but it also makes the film much more entertaining to watch.  There's a great combination of visual and verbal gags that go together perfectly.  The style of humor is very reminiscent of Monty Python's Flying Circus, which is understandable, since Terry Gilliam used to be on that show.  One particularly hilarious moment is a TV advertisement that's promoting different color air ducts.  Not only is this a great piece of absurdist comedy, but it also does a good job at establishing the world the characters inhabit.    

"Hi there.  I want to talk to you about ducts."

Production: If there is one thing that makes this film stand out is the look of the world.  The retro-futuristic designs of the technology are all very inventive, with each one having an obvious purpose.   The city looks very old and lived in, which is a good sign of a well thought-out world.  There's a mix of styles from different eras, with the clothes representing a forties look and the buildings and vehicles representing the sixties.  While these elements might seem strange when compared to our world, all of the elements of the world's design make sense within the internal logic of the movie.

A typical household

The cinematography is unique as well.  Shots with a wide angle lens are frequent, and make the situations and event seem all the more bizarre and unnerving.  But while this can become tedious and annoying in a lesser film, Brazil knows when to not cross this line.  The music fits the tone of the film very well, with a lot of energy and weirdness.  One particular track that I enjoyed was the The Office Theme, which blends the main theme with the busy sounds of typewriters and guitars.  Whenever I hear it, I immediately think of a lot of people busily working.  The special effects are also quite good, such as the wire work for the flying moments in Sam's dreams.  The matte paintings of the city are also fantastic, and give off a great sense of scale to the city.

Outside Sam's apartment

Trivia:

•  While the cast and crew were at first excited to have Robert De Niro on board, they soon became very irritated with his need for research and his obsession with small details.
• The original title was supposed to be "1984 and a 1/2", but the film version of 1984 was released during the previous year, so the idea was scrapped.
• Gilliam was apparently unhappy with Kim Greist's performance, and ended up cutting and trimming many of her scenes.
• All of the musical pieces are variations on the song Brazil.

Final Verdict: This film is a masterpiece to behold.  It has a great cast, hilarious writing, and a fantastic visual design.  Sure, it may have some stereotypical characters and some minor issues with pacing, but these are nothing compared to the rest of the film.  However, the tone and look of the film may not appeal to everyone, as a lot of the humor and visuals have a very specific appeal.  Despite this, Brazil needs to be watched by everyone at least once.  It's too much of a unique experience to pass up.

Next time, we'll investigate a string of murders in the small town of Fargo, Minnesota.  

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